By Dan Karpiel
The Surveyor

Photo by Dan Karpiel
Molli Boruff, left, and Kyra McDonald on the 18th green at Highland Meadows Golf Course in Windsor. Both golfers qualified for the state tournament with Boruff shooting an 85 and McDonald a season-best 88.

There was wind, and rain, and there was thunder and lightning, but even before that there was the challenging track and the win-or-go-home nature of the 3A golf regionals at Highland Meadows in Windsor.
And the Berthoud High School (BHS) girls golf team was up to the task.
For the first time in the program’s history, the Lady Spartans will send their full squad to the state golf tournament. Molli Boruff, Kyra McDonald, Shannyn McEntee and Emma Garner will represent BHS at the state tournament at the Broadlands Golf Course in Broomfield May 22-23.
“At the beginning of the season my hope was to get one or two into state, and as the season progressed I knew we had a good shot,” Berthoud Head Coach Mary Durkin said. Asked if qualifying the whole team for state was the stated goal before tee-off at Highland Meadows, Durkin replied, “Yes, my goal going into regionals was to qualify a team, since I like to set the bar high and clear it.”
Clear it they did.
Boruff, now thrice a state-qualifier, overcame a spotty front nine (by her standards) to card a stellar three-over-par 39 on the back nine to take third place in individual competition with an 18-hole score of 85. McDonald shot a lifetime best 88 to claim fourth place and clinch a spot in state before even half the field had turned in their scorecards. McEntee shot 105, good enough for 15th place overall to round out Berthoud’s three-player team score of 278 that placed the Lady Spartans second in the 14-team tourney.
Berthoud’s 278 was well ahead of third-place Jefferson Academy’s 296, but, more importantly from the team’s perspective, represented a seven-stroke improvement over the 285 the Lady Spartans shot two weeks earlier when the team competed at the same course in a Tri-Valley Conference meet. It has been that continuous upward trend that has defined Berthoud’s season.
Boruff overcame an ankle injury that cost her three weeks in the heart of her senior season but proved able to knock off any rust that had accumulated to pace Berthoud, while McDonald turned in the best 18-hole score in her career on Monday where the entire season came down to one round.
“I started off with two pars … and then the rest of my front nine was pretty bad and I got kind of worried, but then on back nine I turned it around and really started to hit some good shots,” Boruff said. No stranger to tournament golf, the senior said it was her mental fortitude that carried the day. “I just had to keep reminding myself that my next shot will be my best shot and to not think about the other holes.”
While the trend lines of her game have been steadily progressing upward all season, it was, according to Durkin, a matter of putting every aspect of her game together and keeping it together for the duration of the round that got McDonald over the hump. “She was driving the ball like crazy, which was awesome, but she was consistent, her round was consistent, and that’s what she needed,” Durkin said.
“I was really worried that my driver wasn’t going to do me good but it did, and I know I can hit good iron shots and chip shots and putts and that’s what I did today, I was really proud of myself,” McDonald explained. Asked how it felt to qualify for state individually, she said, “I’m really excited; it was my best score today that I’ve ever shot.”
Over the course of the season, McDonald has improved steadily. In the season’s early tournaments she was carding scoring in the low-100s, then moved in to the upper-90s and then lower-90s before turning in a personal-best 88 on Monday in a pressure-packed environment on a very challenging course.
“As a coach, all year long we’ve been working on things with her, watching that improvement, that’s a big jump, it’s definitely rewarding to see her have a fantastic round when she needed to,” Durkin said of McDonald.
The 3A state golf tournament is a two-day, 36-hole event that will be hosted by the Broadlands Golf Course in Broomfield May 22-23.